Seen above is the Massachusetts delegation to the Ukrainian National Association’s 23rd Convention held on May 31 to June 5, 1954, in Washington. With them is Rep. John W. McCormack (fourth from right) of Massachusetts, the second-ranked Democrat in the House of Representatives. The congressman addressed the delegates on the third day of the convention, speaking of communism as a “world killer.” He told the audience of 437 delegates and 19 supreme officers that the Free World, including the United States, would someday free the enslaved peoples behind the Iron Curtain. Other congressmen who addressed the convention were Michael A. Feighan (D-Ohio), Charles J. Kersten (R-Wis.), John R. Pillion (R-N.Y.) and Kenneth B. Keating (R-N.Y.). The senators who spoke were: Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) Irving M. Ives (R-N.Y.), Homer Ferguson (R-Mich.), Paul H. Douglas (D-Ill.), William F. Knowland (R-Calif.), Speaker of the House Joseph W. Martin Jr. (R-Mass.), Thomas A. Burke, (D-Ohio), H. Alexander Smith (R-N.J.) and John F. Kennedy (D-Mass).
A photo archive of UNA history has been launched on the UNA website. It is a work in progress that will be expanded and refined. To take a look, go to unainc.org/una/the-una-is-125-years-old/.